The present invention pertains to an aqueous inkjet ink set based on disperse dye colorants and, more particularly, to such an inkjet ink set particularly suitable for printing on polyester and polyester blend textiles, such as automotive textile stock, so that the printed fabric is colorfast when exposed to light.
Digital printing methods such as inkjet printing are becoming increasingly important for the printing of textiles and offer a number of potential benefits over conventional printing methods such as screen printing. Digital printing eliminates the set up expense associated with screen preparation and can potentially enable cost-effective short run production. Inkjet printing furthermore allows visual effects, like infinite pattern repeat sizes, that cannot be practically achieved with a screen printing process.
One area of textile printing ideally suited to digital printing is the textiles needed for the automotive interior market where short runs are common and specialized printed textiles are sought. However, printing of automotive textiles presents unique challenges. For example, the colors in the printed ink must be colorfast under the harsh light and heat conditions of an automotive interior. If some slight fading does occur the color components should have a matched slight fading so the printed textile retains its color and color contrasts. It is an object of this invention to provide an inkjet ink set having good gamut and lightfastness. If the lightfastness is affected by light the loss in color is slight and even with the loss in color the printed textile appears to have uniform properties.